Bottle Works Lofts in the former Coca-Cola bottling plant on Pontiac Street in Fort Wayne will have a grand opening May 13. Check back here and in May 17’s Greater Fort Wayne Business Weekly for details.
Contributed photo

At a glance

Currently,
there are several developments funded by the Northeast Indiana Regional
Development Authority in progress or nearing completion that encompass
elements of the types of housing identified by the study.

Northeast Indiana RDA-funded projects:

• Skyline Tower in Allen County

• North Buffalo Street Redevelopment Project in Kosciusko County

• Enterprise Center in Steuben County (Phase 1)

• UB Block in Huntington County

• Posterity Scholar House in Allen County

• The Landing in Allen County

Next,
the Regional Partnership will convene a housing committee to develop
regional strategies and solutions to current housing needs based on the
new data. The committee is made up of local and regional economic
developers, banking professionals, Realtors and other developers.

To access the data, visit the Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership’s Infrastructure section on the Regional Reports page at neindiana.com.

FORT WAYNE — Over the next five
years, counties in northeast Indiana could support the development of
nearly 16,000 new housing units, said a study commissioned by groups in
the region.

The Northeast
Indiana Regional Partnership, the Home Builders Association of Fort
Wayne, Inc. and the UPSTAR Upstate Alliance of REALTORS worked with
Zimmerman/Volk Associates, Inc. to publish an analysis of residential
market potential for 10 counties in northeast Indiana. The entities
funded the study.

The purpose
of the study was to determine the market potential for new rental and
for-sale housing units that could be developed within 10 of the 11
counties of the northeast Indiana region over the next five years. The
10 counties include Adams, DeKalb, Huntington, Kosciusko, LaGrange,
Noble, Steuben, Wabash, Wells and Whitley. Allen County was excluded
because it is the home of Fort Wayne, the second-largest city in
Indiana, and a market unto itself.

On
May 13, one of Fort Wayne’s newest housing projects, the conversion of
the former Coca-Cola bottling plant at 1631 E. Pontiac St. into Bottle
Works Lofts, will have a grand opening. Check back Monday for more
details.

As northeast Indiana
works to attract and retain talent and grow the region’s population to 1
million residents by 2030 as part of the Vision 2030 initiative,
available housing is a critical factor in relocation and retention
decisions, a news release from the partnership said.

The
study found the region could potentially absorb 8,775 to 10,975 new
rental units, 765 to 955 new townhouses, and 2,645 to 3,965 new detached
houses — a total of 12,185 to 15,895 new housing units over five years.

Michael
Galbraith, director of the Road to One Million at the Northeast Indiana
Regional Partnership, said he hears consistently from regional
employers, local economic developers and elected officials outside of
Allen County that the housing market is in a critical upside-down state.

“For
a number of years, and particularly after the recession that started in
2008, the 10 counties outside of Allen haven’t had enough new houses,
town homes and apartments built to attract new residents to their cities
and towns. Not only that, but the rehab efforts seen in places like
downtown Fort Wayne and the West Central neighborhood haven’t yet
occurred in large measure in our rural counties. This lack of growth has
kept the value of existing houses low while the cost of constructing
new houses continues to rise,” Galbraith said.

Galbraith
said this situation creates a scarcity of quality housing that drives
potential new employees away from accepting good jobs at northeast
Indiana businesses, exacerbating the region’s critical labor challenges.

In-demand housing

Beth
Walker, board president of Upstate Alliance of REALTORS, said
understanding the issues, then defining and measuring the challenges,
are the first steps to addressing housing needs.

“Realtors
can best serve the community by understanding the region’s market. This
housing study is not only critical in forecasting future growth and
investment in these 10 counties, but also in preparing our membership
for a potential shift in housing availability,” Walker said.

The
study presents a clear picture of housing needs in the region, with 52%
of the need in multi-family rental housing and nearly 40% in
single-family detached housing.

Less
in-demand are multi-family for-sale units like condominiums,
representing less than 3% and single-family attached units like
townhouses or duplexes comprising 6% of the need.

The
analysis compared households by life stages to better understand
housing opportunities, and the following groups make up a percentage of
the total residential market potential:

• Traditional and non-traditional families account for 45% of the market potential

• Younger singles and childless couples account for 31% of the market potential

• Empty nesters and retirees account for 24% of the market potential

•
For low-income households, a significant number of the proposed rental
market opportunities are designed to correspond to the annual incomes of
entry- and lower-level workers in the manufacturing industry, where
hourly wages for those workers range between $13 and $20 per hour.

Identifying housing type

Beth
Johnson, executive director at the Home Builders Association of Fort
Wayne Inc. noted that within their six-county jurisdiction there were
more than 1,400 single-family permits pulled in 2018; 411 of those were
in Adams, DeKalb, Huntington, Wells and Whitley counties.

“With the potential for 12,000 to 15,000
new housing units in the 10-county region over the next five years, the
findings of this study will help area builders and developers project
their paths for investment and growth in the noted housing markets and
meet the needs of the local community. The HBA’s mission is to promote
the building industry and our members while providing the tools they
need to succeed. We are committed to projects that help improve the
community in which we live, work and play,” said Johnson.